“It's another consent risk”

Data Protection Officer · Customer data platforms

A data protection officer who calls every new tool a consent risk is doing their job well. Don't try to get round them. Make them a co-designer: ask what good consent looks like to them, then show where your platform fits inside it, and how it could make consent easier to enforce.

What the buyer says

Every new tool that touches customer data is another consent risk. Convince me this doesn't make it worse.

How to handle it

Listen

Listen for what they're responsible for, and for what has gone wrong before. "Make it worse" suggests they already have consent processes that work, and they're protecting them.

Acknowledge

Agree that every system holding customer data is a responsibility, and that their caution protects the business and its customers.

Explore

Ask how consent is captured and recorded today, where it's enforced, and what's hardest to keep consistent across channels. Ask what they'd need to see (data flows, records, controls) before they could sign off.

Respond

Show how consent travels with customer data in your platform, and how it's enforced in every channel. Offer the documentation they'd need for their assessment, and bring them in early rather than at the end.

Say this
“That's a fair challenge. Every system that holds customer data is a responsibility.”

Say this
“How is consent recorded today, and where is it hardest to keep consistent?”

Say this
“What would you need to see before you could sign this off?”

Variations

General Counsel: “We're not sending customer data to another supplier.”
CISO: “Every new data store is something else we have to protect.”

Questions people ask

How do you handle a data protection officer who sees a customer data platform as a consent risk?

Treat them as a co-designer, not an obstacle. Ask how consent is recorded and enforced today and what they'd need to sign off, then show how consent travels with the data in your platform. Bring them in early.

Can a customer data platform make consent easier to manage?

It can, if consent is stored alongside each customer's data and enforced in every channel the platform feeds. Ask the buyer where consent is hardest to keep consistent today.